


Entwined

by speakdontweep



Series: what is love, if not monstrous [1]
Category: Monster Hunter (Video Games)
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, F/M, Interspecies Relationship(s), Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25006603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speakdontweep/pseuds/speakdontweep
Summary: A mizutsune that travels with no goal.A lagiacrus with no care.
Relationships: Mizutsune/Lagiacrus
Series: what is love, if not monstrous [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810483
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Entwined

It begins on a warm summer day, with the sun beating down upon him. This mizutsune has been traveling aimlessly for so long that now he hardly even thinks about why anymore. However, he cannot deny that his chosen direction is not deliberate; for a while he has been smelling salt, and now he can finally see the ocean glinting ahead. He wonders what his siblings would have thought of it. With that in mind he chooses a cove enclosing a small beach as the place he will first touch the ocean water, in no small part because the surrounding area is much more a cliffside than anything else. 

When he arrived and jumped down into the cove, he immediately realized how strange beach sand was. More so he could already feel it beginning to stick in his hair. Letting out a sigh he cautiously approached the calm surf and finally reached out and brushed the water with his muzzle. Wrinkling his nose at the feeling of salt, he waded into the surf. The salt didn't seem to negatively react to his secretions and with barely a thought he made a bubble. Letting out a laugh he began to dance with water finally allowing him to do so. 

It would have been shocking to an observer then, when he slammed his front claws into the sand his struggled to grip then, and even more shocking when what his fins had sensed launched out of the water and slammed into his side. Gasping he righted himself and looked into the eyes of an angrily hissing lagiacrus. 

Said lagiacrus had arrived back into the cove to find an intruder on her beach. Rearing her head up after her initial attack she prepared to snap forward but...what was she looking at. It was certainly shaped like her but smaller, pink and purple, it even had hair and fins. Besides that, there was something strange on the ground that was now building up on her as well. So drawing herself back slightly from the frozen creature she bit out, "Who are you?!"

Blinking quickly he let out a deep breath, settled his fins, and replied, "Oh, my name is Tama. I'm sorry to have bothered you, I'll be going now". He was disappointed to have to leave the area so soon but there was no way he was trying to fight a lagiacrus over it, so he turned and began to walk away. Except said lagiacrus snapped her head forward to stall him.

"Hey, I wasn't done with you. My name's Thunderclap. What are you? What is this stuff?"

"Well I'm a mizutsune, and I know you're a lagiacrus so...my soap is sort of like your lighting."

Squinting dubiously Thunderclap pushed herself back into the water to wash off, "Well I guess you can stay around for now. Just go somewhere else to get your food and don't get comfortable. Now explain what you mean."

Watching as she climbed back out of the water and settled down near him Tama explained, "Well I produce this secretion that, when mixed with water and rubbed by my hairs, produces suds and even full bubbles" to demonstrate he gathered and spat out a bubbled from his mouth "and while I don't know exactly how it works for you I know lagiacrus also can make something".

Eager to demonstrate she leapt up and almost immediately sparks began to grow, "I have no idea how bubbles are supposed to do anything but my lightning is dangerous and cool. Once I build it up enough I can shoot it out around me. Want to see?" One could hear the smirk in her voice. He shook his head and gave a nervous laugh in response. 

"I don't want to fight you. I'm quite happy just playing in the water while you watch."

"Watch? Who said I was going to watch!" With that, she curled up but he could swear he still felt her eyes on him. It was then that he decided he would stick around for longer than he had originally intended.

It was over a week later when Tama was considering move on, that something occurred that kept him there. Thunderclap had been gone longer than usual- almost the entire day- and he had begun to slightly worry. Typically while she was gone he would go farther inland to avoid being constantly covered in sand if nothing else but he always made sure to check if she was back periodically. It was to his immense relief then, that as he looked out over the water once more he could see distinct spikes coming through the entrance to the cove. That relief change to fear as she got close and he saw blood staining the water. No wonder she was so close to the surface. Splashing into the water as deep as he dared go he hovered over her as she dragged herself out partly onto land but still deep enough that her back was covered.

"Why aren't you coming all the way out?"

"Salt helps heal, you don't have to be here." Her voice was strained and she could feel his eyes burning into her. As reluctant as she was to admit it there was no denying that she was glad he seemed so worried about her. 

"No, I'll stay" he stumbled "the water is knocking me around but I need to know what happened?" He could see open wounds all along her side now. In fact "Is that a harpoon in your shoulder?"

"Yes, I'm having trouble getting it out after the pole snapped. Anyways what happened was that a fishing ship from the nearby village was going after the same school I was, and well. It escalated from there. I took them out before they could take me out." 

Digging his front claws into the wound and causing her to hiss as he pulled out the head of the harpoon he let her words settle. "So, there's a village nearby. They must have hunters to have hurt you this much. I've only dealt with them once and it was a nightmare. Avoided them in my travels and there were none where I was born otherwise."

"Lucky you to grow up with no hunters around. The village has been here far longer than I have but they weren't using this cove so I did. They didn't seem to like that. Especially their hunters, I'm shocked I haven't been directly hunted yet- and don't give me that look! This is the first time they've directly challenged me yes but I can handle it." She was glaring down at him again. Flaring his fins Tama barked and raised himself to glare back, "I'm sure you think you can but I've seen what hunters on an active hunt can do." Snapping her jaws she nonetheless backed down at the look on his face. An awkward silence ensued and unable to handle it she finally snapped. "Well, are you going to explain what that means?"

He mulled it over. On one foot it wasn't something he liked to even think about but on the other, he would be glad to not have to deal with her deliberately challenging hunters. "I wasn't always traveling alone. It was me, two of my sisters, and a brother. We had only recently left our parents when breeding season hit. I was okay but my brother went berserk. We refused to leave him so when he started rampaging too close to a village we were dragged into his fight. He didn't make it. I don't know what happened to my sisters, they fled before I did. The four of us couldn't take down a full team of hunters. Could you?"

For a few moments, time seemed paused. The waves still crashed, the wind still blew, but the two monsters did nothing but watch the other. He saw how she was relaxed against him and leaned against her. 

"I think I'll stay longer than planned and make sure you don't go and harass any more ships needlessly."

"I'd like to see you try."

She was growing restless. In the months since their little talk about hunters, they had grown to be what one could call friends. Which was fine at first, once she had gotten past her initial hesitance to accept him. Soon enough, however, she began to realize that she wanted more. She wanted him. Thunderclap knew what was happening, she had been taught by her mother that lagiacrus would always know who they wanted. Oh how she wanted, his gracefulness on land, his glittering scales, his kindness from the start, of all it drew her in. The problem was he had shown no interest at her. Perhaps it would have been best to wait to see if that changed but no, here she was stalking an unlucky epioth to gift him. While not overtly impressive it was something Tama could not catch himself. 

With a push from her powerful tail she snapped forward and wrapped herself around it, killing with a single bite. Satisfied she hurried back inland speeding through the cove's entrance. They had fallen into a pretty successful schedule so she arrived just as he was jumping back into the cove to see her. She could see the dawning confusion on his face as she dragged the epioth onto land, so she spoke before he had a chance to, "For you, obviously. I thought you might enjoy the taste if you haven't had one before."

He bobbed his head and leaned down. With part one of her plan complete, it was time for part two. They spent quite a lot of time apart and needed to have reason to come together that was not just talking. So she had decided to go for an activity they could share. She just needed to ask.

"How would you like to learn to swim? Don't deny you can't! Despite that I don't know why you wouldn't seeing how much you rely on water..." she trailed off grumblings.

"...What exactly brought this on?" he asked, raising himself from his meal. He was less surprised than he might have been at her question if he hadn't noticed how impatient she looked. 

"I was thinking we should do something other than talk when we see each other, and seeing as the ocean is right here" 

"I'm not built to swim at all though, but I do agree it would be nice to do something together."

Letting out a soft rumble she responded, "I don't expect you to be a great swimmer, that would be ridiculous. Basic swimming, on the other hand, doesn't require you to be built for anything. Unless you've decided to leave now of all times you never know when this could be useful living here."

"Alright, I'll give it a try this once. If you promise to give me a chance to show you something one day," she swore he had a glint in his eye when he said  
this, "now how about you help me finish this first."

Within minutes they were both in the surf, Thunderclap in front asking what exactly Tama did and didn't know about swimming.

"Of course I know the idea behind it," he said, "I've just never had any chance to try." So getting g him to walk a little farther out by backing up herself, she then pressed herself against his side, "I'm going to walk forward and I want you to stick right to me, when we get deep enough start paddling and I'll stick by you-you'll be able to start swimming before I would have to." 

It went exactly like that for a while, Tama calmly paddling while she kept close to keep him steady. The problem started when she realized with how bubbly the water was getting she was being coated and slowed down. 

"How do you feel about being more on your own?"

"Why...oh, of course, that would cause you issues. I should be okay as long as I don't go deeper. By the way, just out of curiosity, how did you learn to swim?"

Cocking her head as she backed away from him, she dragged up fuzzy memories of her early life, "I wouldn't say we learn really. So soon after hatching our mother gathers us up and takes us to some water nearby that she can protect and in we go. Did you think a monster born to swim wouldn't from the start?" She punctuated the question with a small laugh. Behind that, though, she kept a careful eye on him. Often a monster not used to swimming would go deeper than they may originally intend, and he was doing exactly that. 

"Of course not! I just wanted to know how you started. I'm sure it was nothing like this." She didn't answer immediately, instead watching the way he was slowly beginning to dip more and more often, glancing back at her more often. 

"You. Are nervous." She declared before cutting through the water straight towards him with a powerful push from her tail. "Besides that, you've come pretty far out. It's good that you're staying up but you can't last much longer." Pushing up against him she made sure he got back to shore quickly.

"I hadn't noticed that I'd gone farther out, thanks." He was quite happy to slide out of the water several lengths back onto the familiarity of the beach. "Don't think that just because I was nervous I wasn't having fun. Although I missed you once you went farther away."

Ducking her head she pulled up next to him and curled around him, "Happy now." She snarked before flopping her neck and tail over him. He didn't tell her to get off.

It had been a week since she had last seen him. She had worried at first but now she felt only anger. She didn't want to think-now she knew he would not just leave. At the very least hew would say goodbye. Which meant something was stopping him from coming back. The issue was a tremendous one and terrified her deep down inside. To find him she would have to go inland and track him as best she could, and a lagiacrus going inland could only end up thirsty and dying if they didn't know where they were going and when they would be back. She did not and had several times throughout the week cursed herself for not being ivory.

To not go would mean never knowing even a sliver of information towards Tama. So with one last soak inside the ocean, she dragged herself over the lip of the cove and headed in the direction he had so often come from. As she walked through the undergrowth she began to realize that the faintest smell of soap hung in the air; he had recently been here. Speeding up with this revelation she tracked after his trail even when it suddenly veered hard and she began to go back towards the coast while still heading east. For hours she followed until she could finally see a glint of pink ahead. Panting she skidded to a halt warily, because there was something very wrong with him. His fins flared a red she had never seen before and he paced with a gait that screamed pent up energy. 

One more step forward and he knew she was there. His head swiveled and he froze.

"Thunderclap!"

"Couldn't be bothered to tell me about this vacation?" She meant to lighten the situation but that seemed to only stress him out more as he crouched against the ground.

"I...that is to say...do you recall when I told you about my siblings?!" He rushed out, then clamped his mouth shut and seemed to struggle with what to say next. Luckily she did indeed and there was only one thing he could be talking about. 

"Exactly why does your breeding season entail you leaving without saying a word?"

"I should have told you I was leaving yes. However, now that you know it would be great if you could go back and wait for me to come back when I'm ready." An agitated grumble punctuated his words.

"No. You're going to explain yourself or you'll have to make me leave." Seeing how distressed he was getting she added, "Hey I'm still upset but whatever it is I'll forgive you."

Bracing himself Tama slowly said, "You and I are different kinds of monsters, but the moment the season began I immediately wanted to try and go for you. I thought I shouldn't, no couldn't, act upon the feeling so I fled."

"I wanted you first!" Maybe not the best thing to blurt out in response, but she couldn't quite bring herself to regret saying it. 

"So what you're saying is that I want you and you want me? Despite our differences?" He was genuinely surprised by this, which made her reconsider her past actions as obvious. 

"Well, when you put it like that...how does your breeding season work? I'll go ahead and tell you how this kind of thing works for lagiacrus. The pursuer waits until the pursued engages them."

"Engages?"

"Fights."

"I should have known. For us, we display our fins to impress the other mizutsune." A pause, "Even though we both seem to like each other I very much still want to impress you," here he cut her off," If I already have I want to do it here and now too. We could even do what you want too. I could change the way it works slightly, just for you." He seemed excited at the end of his words and she couldn't help but share in it.

"Be warned, I will fight back. Your move." As she said this she began a loud rumble, meant to grab the attention of the other. She would not stop until this was over.

Instead of immediately attacking her he rocked back and bobbed his head back and forth while his fins swiveled. She watched, and while it didn't have the same effect it would have had on another mizutsune she did find it pretty. In an instant, his display ended and he sent several bubbles that he had been forming flying towards her. Dodging to the side she briefly considered that doing this right after running for hours was not the best idea before she dashed forward. He naturally dodged her but she managed to spin and knock him sideways as he jumped. This continued as they traded physical blows, his natural suds unable to build up to the level she had seen before with him outside the water. Still, on land she was simply physically incapable of keeping up with him.

With a roar, she formed some electricity that caused him to stumble back from where he was about to hit her. Taking advantage of the opening she whipped around and body-slammed him chest to side. As they rolled she sent slammed her jaws around his neck but he was slippery enough that she struggled to get a grip. They both tumbled away from each other she sent another shock towards him but didn't catch if it hit. What she did notice was him hesitating to attack again. Realizing she was panting from exhaustion she let out a frustrated growl. Normally when two lagiacrus fought like this both would fight until complete exhaustion and only then would they be forced to give in. 

Before she could demand he continue, there was a glint and several arrows came flying through the air to hit Tama's side.

"Hunters?!" He exclaimed, jumping in front of her when he noticed that a broadsword user had arrived and begun approaching her. "Why would they be here?" He questioned almost rhetorically.

"How would I know, all I know is that they're interrupting-" It hit her then, why they might be there. "The fishing village. I've only ever seen it from the ocean so I can't tell, but it could be nearby." By this point two more hunters had emerged, a full party. The real question was, were they here to kill them or just drive them away. To try and buy them both time she roared and hyped up her electricity as much as she could.

"We're between the hunters and the ocean Thunderclap. There's no way you could outrun them like this." As he said this he was already being forced to doge as many of the hunters' attacks as he could. What none of them were expecting was the lagiacrus he had been fighting to ignore the broadsword hunter and barrel in between the two parties. 

"I'm not going to just jump into the ocean and leave you here. What if they think you're rampaging, they could kill you instead of letting you run away!" The next moment she was tripping over the exhaustion overtaking her as she hurried to get back up. This more than anything else forced him to act as he leapt over and began pushing her towards the edge. Finally on her feet again she hesitated a moment but forced herself off when he gave her a pleading look. As she fell, he turned and looked right into a flash bomb. Completely stunned he stepped right back over the cliff after her.

The fall was thankfully short enough that when she hit the water she was stunned only briefly before she got her bearings to keep her head above water. Seconds after a still blinded Tama splashed down next to her. Diving down she drew up beneath him and pushed both of them up. Her exhaustion with his confusion meant for several agonizing moments she had to fight to keep him above water. She didn't need to since she could hold her breath for some time, so she took advantage of that to use her neck to prop up his head. 

"I'm  
good." He was finally able to start keeping himself afloat as the flash bomb wore off. 

Bringer her head up, she turned to look the direction home was in. "I'll guide you and do my best to make sure you don't drown right. We'll have to find somewhere close to get out of the water if we can."

"We are talking about this when we get back Thunderclap." He said quietly, hooking his left front claw over her largest shoulder spike. He didn't want to lose her in the strengthening current

She ducked her head back under the water. They both knew what the other wanted.

It took them over a day to get back with the time hunting for a way out of the ocean and resting after all the excitement, but they finally had made it back. Tama lay curled in her embrace where he had just woken up now. Twisting around he rested his head over her shoulder and watched as she woke up. Purring softly he got to his feet just as she shook the last dredges of sleep from her body and turned to look at him.

"I know you want to say something."

"So, are we in a sense together? I don't know how it works for lagiacrus but mizutsune tend to stay together even after breeding season ends."

"If you must know lagiacrus don't tend to stick together, but they do often come back to each other. That said I'm not interested in you for breeding, and even if you were a lagiacrus I'd say the same thing. To the first well, I doubt you noticed but that rumbling I was doing? I've stopped. We may not have finished our fight but I consider it a done deal."

"I did notice but I didn't realize that's what it was about." Jokingly he asked, "Is that rumble why you're named Thunderclap?"

"What, no. I named myself when I was just learning to talk. A great storm came through and when I asked my mother and I heard the name for the noise that crashed in the air I knew. What about you then Tama?"

"Far less interesting. My father named me, and my name is actually from another word that refers to out kind. I wish he had been more creative at times."

"Well, I like it." Leaning forward she twined her neck around his. "I've been wondering, what do you see in me? I hope I've made it clear that I love the way you look, the way you feel, the way you make me feel, but you...?"

"Well, for many of the same reasons. Specifically, I know for certain that you talk to me in a way that no one has before, and I love that about you." He truly meant that and hoped she could see it.

"By the way, what do you think about moving?"

"Moving? Why." He was baffled at the sudden, never once had she shown any sign of wanting to leave this cove. He had grown used to it, even if he still hated the sand. 

"To think you would question moving. Anyways, in all honesty, it's because I think we could do better. Lagiacrus can live in freshwater and more importantly I know you still hate the sand. There are places without sand."

"But I'm happy here." That said he would be lying if he didn't think he was only happy in this cove because it was hers. Although he could see where she was going with this.

"We can always come back, I doubt that village will ever have a use for it." She was right. As it was he was unhappy with the cove, but to give it up just for him.

"You aren't doing this just for me are you?"

"This would mostly for you, yes, but I do genuinely want to travel with you." 

"Then, we can see where the world takes us where we can live side by side." He let himself relax and be fully taken away by the idea when she hummed and leaned into his side. He couldn't deny the draw of traveling with a goal in mind, in the end.


End file.
